Large Crowd at Malibu Post-Fire Forum Heaps Praise on Firefighters

• Residents Are Critical of Collapse of Key Cable Provider and Its Impact on Information

BY HANS LAETZ

It was hard to find a happier crowd than the 300 Malibu residents in Malibu High School’s auditorium Tuesday night, when Los Angeles County firefighters were repeatedly interrupted with applause as they answered questions about the Canyon Fire from Malibuites.

But the happiness and gratitude instantly evaporated when the subject turned to Charter Communications, whose representatives were raked over the coals by residents who said they were furious over telephone, cable TV and Internet outages.

Fire Commander John Tripp got a standing ovation after announcing that fire lines had been extended around 75 percent of the fire as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, and that Pacific Coast Highway had been reopened at the same time.

“Today we woke up and saw no smoke, not one wisp. That was good news,” he said, as this fire’s peculiar pattern Monday and Tuesday of spreading slowly into the approaching winds meant that it consumed all of the available fuel.

“We thought it would be several days before we would be at this point,” he said.

Tripp said hotspots in the 4400 acres of rugged, burned terrain may remain, and could reignite over the next few days. A helicopter equipped with an infrared camera was to begin low-altitude flights over the burned zone, and line crews and other resources will be sent into the mountains for mop-up.

“For the next few days we’re going to keep resources here, you are going to see resources, we’re going to be your neighbor,” he said.

The incident commander walked residents through the first hours of the fire, and praised people in the Civic Center and Malibu Knolls area for instantly getting out of bed and following orders to evacuate. “That saved lives, and we had the potential to lose a lot of lives.

“4:55 a.m. is absolutely the worst time to have a fire in Malibu. The very first thing I had to deal with was a bunch of people startled awake, and following a sheriff down the hill.”

Lost Hills Sheriff’s Captain Tom Martin thanked residents for obeying road closures and mandatory evacuations. “Driving through this fire was one of the scariest things I had ever done,” he said.

The officer thanked Malibu horse owners for acting quickly to evacuate more than 100 horses from Malibu ranches before the roads clogged with incoming fire engines.

“I want to encourage everyone who has a business on PCH to go and make sure you are secure,” Martin said. “We are going to have roving patrols, but there are a few places where the fire department had to smash windows to go in and check things, and we don’t want any looting.”

But as happy as residents were with public safety agencies, they were chomping at the bit to tear into Charter’s new vice president for Southern California, Fred Lutz, who stepped up with apologies and promises to do better.

“When are we going to get the channels back on?” yelled one little boy as the meeting began.

“We want to know how we get information when the cable is out,” yelled a woman.

“You can’t have a neighborhood phone tree unless you have information to give out,” shouted another.

“Forget about Charter, we need to have an emergency backup system,” said a third.

Lutz acknowledged shortcomings with the system, asked for patience, and promised citywide “service will be restored by [Wednesday] at 6 a.m.”